OB Has Mixed Reaction to ‘CyclOBias’ Day

It was supposed to be the day in OB without cars. But from the looks of some of the comments in recent posts here at the OB Rag, Ocean Beach had a mixed reaction to “CyclOBias”

Or did it?

We’ve seen complaints of cars being towed. Of other frustrations. Plus an attitude among some locals that ‘hey, OB is one of the most pedestrian-and-bike-friendly neighborhoods around, and we don’t need others telling us we can now “enjoy” our own community …’

We don’t know.

What was your reaction or response? Were you into it or you were more peeved?

Here are photos taken by our good friend Wayne Starker of what some did during the event. In the early hours of the event.

Related

Pros
1. What a treat to see no cars parked on Bacon, Voltaire, Newport
2. Hanging out on Newport was the standout for me. A street skating area, plenty of room to roam. For all of us wondering how Newport would operate as a promenade, it was a great taste.
3. I saw a lot of families riding by my house on Bacon with their kids on tiny bikes, etc. I just don’t see that on normal days – I can only imagine how tough it is to safely ride bikes in OB with small kids.

Cons
1. While I don’t have complete sympathy due to the completely obvious signs for weeks, it was pretty lame to see some people have their cars towed even though they were available to move them, but towers had already been called. Saw 3 separate instances of this on Bacon between Muir and Cape May. I also don’t understand why we all had to move our cars by 6 AM but nothing was even remotely done infrastructure wise until ~830-9 AM.
2. Some of the volunteers were being the most erratic. I was making a left hand turn, using my hand to signal as much, to ride into my alley off Bacon. As I started to turn left, someone literally started screaming at the top of their lungs behind me. Turns out, one of the volunteers in their yellow tie tye shirts was blazing by me at a high rate of speed, but was trying to pass me on the left illegally beyond the double yellow. He had some choice words… is that who you really want being the face of your event?
3. Clean up afterwards was non-existent. They just threw the objects used to make the traffic circles in front of my neighbors house afterward.

At the end of the day, it certainly drew awareness to what our communities can be like with a little less auto traffic and a more pedestrian friendly environment.

We only saw the last 2 hours. It was fun walking in the middle of Voltaire, hearing the band at Tikiport, and seeing longtime OB residents keeping time to the music. As we walked down Bacon and up Santa Monica, they had already started the pickup of signs. That brief experience felt more like something that was being to us rather than by us. Outsiders took over our streets so that other outsiders could bicycle through our streets. Maybe I missed the memo: there was little publicity about this event other than the no parking tow away signs. Maybe more publicity and more community buy-in would produce a happier event.

It did hurt business, Ron. I had breakfast at Margarita’s today and I asked them. They said they did really badly that day. These events do not bring in business to the locals as one might expect. The no line at Hodad’s was a clear affirmation of that.

Aggh…too bad I was hoping that would not happen. In an ideal OB world the locals would come down ( not by car) and shop enough to make up for the non local ob customers….unless they too can non car into the village.

Vern May 24, 2019 at 6:27 am on OB Town Council Gets Prepped on RoundUpadditional info: The Diet of the Adult Monarch Butterfly The Monarch butterfly feeds on nectar form various flowers including milkweeds,...

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